Lawyers representing al-Jazeera yesterday demanded to see a Downing Street record of a conversation between Tony Blair and George Bush in which the US president said he wanted to bomb the Arabic satellite television station based in the Gulf state of Qatar.

The document is said to be a transcript of a conversation between the two leaders in April 2004. "Any thought of bombing al-Jazeera ... would be both morally wicked and legally indefensible," said Mark Stephens, the TV station's lawyer.

Downing Street has already said it has information "relevant" to the issue.